While Google and Apple have had their mobile application stores up and running for some time now, Research In Motion is still toiling away at putting the finishing touches on its solution for BlackBerry owners. First announced five months ago, as we approach the store's premiere, we've gotten some more info on RIM's plans, including the pricing structure.

First off, the service has been granted a new and apparently finalized name, App World. RIM posted a list of which of its handsets will be compatible with App World downloads, which includes all the latest models like the Storm, Bold, and Curve.

App World will support free downloads, just like the other mobile stores do, but its least-expensive option for paid apps is going to be three dollars. That's likely to hurt casual downloads, as there's a big psychological difference in making impulse purchases at three dollars, opposed to only a single buck. On the plus side, since developers need to put on a more impressive show to convince you to buy, maybe we'll be seeing a higher quality selection of apps.

RIM will split the money 80/20 with developers, a seemingly more generous arrangement than the 70/30 break Apple and Google use. While Apple says that it's just trying to break even, and doesn't intend to make any money off the App Store, and the 30% from Android Market downloads goes to the mobile provider, not Google, RIM wants its App World to be profitable.

Since RIM is taking less of a cut up front, it's trying to generate revenue from ongoing app use. To that end, it wants part of what developers are getting for any in-app advertising, as well as a chunk of transactions carried out within apps. PayPal has been named as the third party that will be carrying out the transactions themselves. The actual cut that RIM gets isn't set in stone for these ongoing transactions, but will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis. With the right app, RIM could stand to make far more from these sales than it loses from the reduced 80/20 split.

RIM first announced that the then-titled Application Storefront would be launching this month, so we expect to see this now-App World any day now.

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